Missing Heroes
by pkmntrnrbob
Summary: Orange, a teenaged inkling boy living in Inktopolis, is incredibly excited for the yearly Octarian Festival. However, when his childhood hero, the legendary Agent 3, goes missing before Orange can meet him, Cap'n Cuttlefish chooses Orange to find out what's going on. Will Orange be able to finally meet his idol, or will Agent 3 be gone forever?
1. Chapter 1

**NOTE: Thank you for choosing to take time and read my story. While I will make my best efforts to update the story on a regular basis, things may happen such that I might not post any new chapters for a while. I will try to make up for that by including more content in later updates. Also, please leave reviews! Every time I see a review, it makes me want to write more. Feel free to leave suggestions, constructive criticism, or questions (for me or the characters). Thanks!**

Even though the clock sitting on a bedside table showed, in squiggly shapes lit up a bright blue, that midnight was far past and 1:00 am was fast approaching, no sleep was found in the small, cramped bedroom at the end of a hallway. Moonlight shone through the colorful curtains and threw splashes of color throughout the room, illuminating a medium-sized television in the corner, a long, strangely shaped item leaning against the wall, and a teenaged boy with long tentacles in place of hair, eyes wide open. They followed a darting flash of hot pink light around the ceiling. "That'll be them setting up the plaza for the Octarian Festival tomorrow," he murmured.

Every year, around mid-summer, Inktopolis, the town in which we find the teenager, hosted the Octarian Festival, a day-long celebration marking the defeat of the Octarian invasion. By stealing the Great Zapfish, the main source of power for Inktopolis, the Octarians threatened to plunge the nation's largest city into darkness and chaos. However, the mysterious being named Agent 3 sprang into action just in time and retrieved the Great Zapfish before the reserve supplies of power ran out. The reason this event kept the boy, identified as "Orange" by a sticker attached to the inside cover of an open book, awake so late was the special events planned for tomorrow's festival. Rare appearances by Agent 3 himself, as well as his famed mentor Captain Cuttlefish, were scheduled for the starting ceremony at 9:00, followed by autographs from them and the local newscasters, Callie and Marie. Then, at noon, a Splatfest pitting Team Chargers, led by last year's champions, against Team Rollers, featuring several special guest from outside of town at the forefront. But most of all, Orange was looking forward to the food. Food stands and carts were everywhere for the Octarian Festival, all offering wonderful options for the day.

It was just as the sun was starting to just peek over the horizon, still hidden from view by buildings, that Orange slipped off into a deep sleep. Exhausted by staying up nearly all night, as well as extensive preparing for the big day late into the evening before, he didn't hear it when his alarm went off, or when his mom got up and started preparing breakfast. The sound of her opening the front door didn't disturb him, and neither did the carts rolling in on noisy wheels. And so, when the festivities started at 9:00 sharp, Orange slumbered on, oblivious to what he was missing.

IIIII

Meanwhile, everyone was having a wonderful time at the festival. Agent 3 and Captain Cuttlefish had finished their speeches and autograph signings, so now it was time for various activities in the plaza. Game stalls and the food carts had been set up, and all of the various shops had sales on their wares, the flashiest of which were displayed on brightly colored tables outside their storefronts. Even Judd, the typically lazy cat who presided over competitive matches in the turf war arenas, was up and about, checking out any vendor offering fish. Nobody noticed Orange's absence. Except one person. Orange's best friend, Blue, who he had known since they were both babies and had been in all of their classes together, was darting around frantically, asking if anyone had seen Orange. Finally giving up looking around the plaza, Blue ran over to Orange's apartment building, sprinted up three flights of stairs, and rapped on the second door on the right. A loud yawn could be heard from inside.

"Who's there?" Orange yelled sleepily. Blue had trouble understanding him, since he had only just been woken up by the napping and was still in bed, trying to get back to a wonderful dream he had been having about meeting Agent 3 and venturing off with him for grand adventure. The dream was fairly reminiscent of Orange's favorite childhood cartoon, "Agent 3, Take me Away," but that didn't bother him.

"Is that you, Orange?" yelled back Blue, relieved he had located his friend. "Come on, what're you doing sleeping in so late? You already missed the kick-off party!"

Orange was drifting back to sleep, so only certain parts of Blue's statement registered in his mind. However, it was enough to throw him into a panic, rushing around his room, throwing clothing items all over the floor, grabbing the long item by his wall (that had the word "Splatterscope" printed on it), and sprinting out to the living room. He flung the door open to reveal Blue, who had jumped at Orange's sudden appearance.

"DID I MISS AGENT 3?!" Orange screamed. He was right next to Blue, but the emotion coursing through him at the news of possibly not being able to meet his childhood hero made him speak louder than necessary.

"Calm down, Orange. It'll be all right. Besides, he'll be at the awards ceremony later, so you can see him then," Blue reassured Orange.

Orange gradually calmed down. His face went from somewhat crazy to more composed, and his actions became less erratic. After telling himself everything would be all right, that he could still see Agent 3 later, Orange followed Blue down the stairs, and out to the festivities.


	2. Chapter 2

Orange had an incredibly day at the Octarian Festival. After trying his hand at a few carnival game stalls, he gave up (saying they were rigged and arguing with the game operator to try and convince Blue he was right until the operator played the game and did perfectly) and got some food. All of the different sights and smells overwhelmed Orange and Blue, who eventually decided to try everything. Immediately once they finished off their food, Callie and Marie announced, over the big TV screen in the plaza, that the turf wars were beginning right then, and Orange and Blue headed over to the Team Chargers line. Though not strictly using chargers, most of the weapons on the team relied more on high damage and lower fire rates, with blasters to cover more turf. Orange personally had his trusty Splatterscope. He had once gotten a 15 game winning streak with it, (just ask Blue, he had heard the story enough times to recite in word for word), while Blue had a Luna Blaster.

Meanwhile, over in the other line, the two friends spotted quite a few rollers. The freshest inklings had Dynamo Rollers, while others had the lighter and quicker Carbon Roller, or a high fire-rate shooter like the Aerospray MG. Searching through the line, Orange didn't see too many people he knew, but was somewhat outraged to see one of his classmates who had promised to be on Team Chargers holding a shiny new Aerospray RG. "I'm going to get you, Pink," he said through gritted teeth, referring to the girl who always ended up being his rival in everything. The smirk on Pink's face as she walked into the lobby seemed to show she had heard Orange's comment, and, knowing their past experiences facing each other in turf wars, doubted she would lose.

Unfortunately for Orange's ego, though perhaps fortunately for his success, he didn't end up in a match with Pink the whole day. With awards planned at 8:00, Orange began fearing he wouldn't get to defeat his rival and her team. Between each match, he checked the clock in the lobby, growing more and more worried and the time ticked past 7:15, then 7:30, all the way to the final battles at 7:56. Scanning the opponent's player list desperately before the match, he was overjoyed to see Pink on the other team. _Finally_ , he though. _I can show her I'm the freshest Inkling at school!_ By now he was on another 15 match win streak, and he wasn't about to let one annoying Inkling get in the way of a new personal record.

The maps for the day were Kelp Dome and Blackbelly Skatepark, with him currently standing in the former. With a lot of rolling terrain that you couldn't walk up, Orange was at a disadvantage at first as opposed to the inklings with shooter type weapons, who could ink the walls, swim up them, and get to the action quickly. However, once Orange made it to the center of the stage, he planned to put himself in the best position possible, at the top of the tall, main tower. From there he could ink the turf around him, as well as shoot any members of the opposing team trying to invade his team's side of the arena. It had worked well previously, and Orange couldn't see any way this time would be different.

"READY?!" echoed the loud mechanical countdown. "GO!" Quickly charging up his weapon, Orange fired a straight shot close to the base of the nearest wall. Several other inklings, one with a Blaster and one with a Kelp Splat Charger, swam through the trail, then up the wall in the ink from one shot by the inkling with the Blaster. A clear path all the way to the main area now created, Orange zoomed in it past a female inkling with a Luna Blaster like Blue's inking the area around their base. A charged shot by Orange made it possible for him to climb the tower's side, and he was pleased to find he had gained that area first. As all of the members of the other team had either been splatted and sent back to spawn by his teammates already or were covering ground around their base, Orange set to work covering the ground and tops of platforms around him with his team's lime green colored ink. Most of the turf around the tower had already been covered by his teammates, so Orange jumped off of the tower for a few seconds to search into the other team's purple ink, looking for somebody to shoot.

After blasting a path into Team Rollers' territory, Orange saw some darting movement out of the corner of his eye. He whipped around and started charging his Splatterscope, letting spray a long stream of ink. He heard a loud sound, and a little ghostly squid rose out of the ink. "Yes! Direct hi-!" Orange clapped a hand over his mouth, not wanting to give away his position by yelling. But it was too late to take back his exclamation. Orange fled the area, swimming as fast as he could in his own ink, just ahead of an inkling wielding a Dynamo Roller. Finally, he made it up the tower and peered through the scope attached to his weapon to locate his tormentor, but they had already fled, robbing him of the chance to splat them.

A quick glance at the display floating high above the arena revealed that only 30 seconds remained in the battle. _30 seconds?! But I've only splatted one person!_ Orange thought incredulously. The map next to the timer displayed an incredibly close contest. A path of purple ink was making its way down one of the side pathways. _I'll go deal with that._ Swimming in an older path already in place, Orange closed in on the opponent he had spotted on the map. He was pleased to see that Pink was going to be his victim. Standing up and hiding behind a corner, Orange charged his trusty Splatterscope up, then jumped out and fired. Yet somehow, Pink wasn't there! _Where could she be?_

"Looking for me?" Pink's voice taunted from a few feet behind Orange. He quickly tried turning into a squid to escape through the path he had taken earlier, but found he was stuck in a puddle of purple ink! He leaped as far as he could, exiting the purple ink for his own color, But before he could land, he got a face full of ink and poofed out of the competition.

With a feeling of dread in his stomach, Orange watched the map as he waited to respawn. Pink kept pushing on into green ink, claiming the turf for his team. After the required five second wait time to re-enter the competition, Orange started making for the area newly taken by Pink. _I'm going to make it! I'll be able to get that turf back!_ He was only a few feet from Pink and the purple ink when the game-ending buzzer sounded. _NOOOO!_ Orange's mental shout of anguish was so intense, he got a headache just thinking it. Dejected, Orange meandered to the judging area, while Pink skipped happily next to him. The members of Team Chargers, all feeling significantly better than Orange, lined up on Judd's right side, while Team Rollers were on his left. Studying the large electronic map sitting before them, though, Orange drew some happiness from his team member's efforts. They had managed to claim the middle area, and even push close to the Team Rollers base. _If there can be a 50/50 split,_ Orange observed to himself, _this would be it._

Judd held up two flags, one colored lime green, the other a deep, royal purple. To build suspense, he spun them in his hands, around and around each other, until the colors seemed to blend together. "And the winner is…" Judd announced in a meow that all inklings learned to understand, "the purple team!" Judd dropped the green flag and swung the purple flag to his left, at Team Rollers. "Congratulations!" Orange studied the map, which now displayed that the purple team claimed just 1% more turf than the green team. Orange looked up and surveyed the arena, thinking that if only he had stopped Pink, he could have been the hero to his team. When Orange looked back down to his teammates, he found he was receiving a lot of angry stares. He didn't know why, _they couldn't have known I didn't stop Pink_ , until he looked back to the screen.

 _What?! I barely got 100 points?!_ Orange wondered how this could be. He always was the best, yet there he was, sitting at the very bottom of his teams point list. Then a realization dawned on him. _I was too focused on trying to get Pink to claim any turf!_ He was angry with Pink, angry with Team Rollers, but most of all, angry with himself.


	3. Chapter 3

Orange trudged out of the lobby, behind crowds of inklings excited by the day's events and looking forward to seeing Agent 3 again. Orange, however, was not excited. _I just want to go back to my room and lie on my bed._ Orange felt he had let Agent 3 and Team Chargers down. Now, there's no way that could be true, as the last match had only been one failure in a day of successes, but a single failure has a way of pushing multiple successes out of one's mind. On top of that, Agent 3 wasn't even in the match, so there was no way he felt let down, but nevertheless, Orange thought he did.

"Orange, Orange!" cried Blue, shaking Orange's shoulder. "Guess what! I just got first on my team! Over 1,000 points!"

"Wonderful." Orange muttered. "Could you leave me alone? I'm just going to go back to my room."

"But you'll miss Agent 3!"

"He wouldn't want to see me, anyways."

Orange continued pushing his way through the crowd, leaving a protesting Blue behind in a bunch of their school friends, all eagerly and noisily explaining their greatest victories of the day. Orange felt out of energy, his previous emotion sucked out of him by his poor performance. And so, as Orange sat down on his bed, unlaced his shoes, and shut his window blinds, he again missed important events.

IIIII

Back in the plaza, Blue and the rest of the crowd fell silent as Callie and Marie walked out onto the stage that had been set up for the winners and prizes to be announced. Blue thought they looked somewhat upset. They normally were so calm, but now something was… different. Marie's hat was somewhat askew, and Marie's gloves looked like they had been pulled on hastily. _I wonder what happened._ Blue thought. _I hope nothing's the matter with the festival._ The approached the microphone near the middle of the stage.

"Umm, may I please have your attention?" Callie asked.

"Yeah, there might be a problem." Marie added.

"You see, when we went to get Agent 3…"

"He was missing!"

"We can't find him!"

"All we could find is this note."

Callie unfolded a small, white paper she had been holding and read it aloud. "'Attention citizens of Inktopolis, we are the Octarians. You thought you were rid of us, but you weren't. Now we've returned, and you don't have your hero to stop us. Ha ha ha! We will rule the world like we should have after the Great Turf Wars of long ago! Signed, the Octoking.'"

The crowd was immediately thrown into murmurs, gradually getting louder and louder until people just started yelling out questions.

"Who is this 'Octoking'?"

"Where's Cap'n Cuttlefish?"

"Does this mean we get free food now?"

"Settle down, settle down," Marie said into the mic. "We don't know who this Octoking figure is. We suspect it might be the leader of the Octarian forces last time they tried to attack us and were stopped by Agent 3. Cap'n Cuttlefish is fine, just slightly distraught. And, no, the food is not free." The last sentence drew the most groans.

Now Callie spoke. "Cap'n Cuttlefish is the expert in dealing with the Octarian threat. Last time he was able to get an early start in fighting them, but this time they beat us. We'll have to work extra hard to prevent this from becoming a catastrophe. As soon as he feels up to addressing everyone, Cap'n Cuttlefish will explain what we need to do. Everyone can help. Thank you."

Callie and Marie walked off the stage, leaving everyone with nothing to do but wait for Cap'n Cuttlefish's appearance. Yet as the clocks ticked on, the sun set, and the moon rose high in the sky, nothing was seen of Callie, Marie, or Cap'n Cuttlefish. Eventually, the only inklings remaining in the plaza were Orange and Pink, sitting on opposite corners of the stage. Orange had left his room when he noticed the commotion going on in the plaza, and had caught enough of Callie and Marie's report to understand what was happening as well as anyone else. Lights from signs danced around on the ground, but the night was completely silent. Orange was too lost in thought to mind Pink's presence. Eventually, even Pink wandered home, leaving only Orange in the warm, summer night. Though he was aware he was alone, it didn't matter to him. _I wonder where Agent 3 could been? And how are the Octarians planning to take over the world?_

Orange was shocked back to the present by a strange sound. He glanced around, scared, but didn't see anything. Jumping off of the stage, Orange felt his heart beating incredibly fast. He spotted a dark shadow approaching him, and… it started laughing. As it came into the light, Orange could see that it was Cap'n Cuttlefish, laughing like he had just seen the funniest thing ever. Orange was both relieved and a bit embarrassed about being scared by such a kind old man. "Hello," Orange said, "I'm Orange. I heard what happened. Are you here to make your big address? Everyone's gone except for me, so you might want to wait."

"No, Boy, I purposefully waited until only one inkling is still here," Cap'n Cuttlefish replied. "That means you're the one who cares the most. I'm looking for someone for me to train and help save Agent 3. You're still here, therefore Agent 3 must mean a lot to you."

"Oh, yes sir. Agent 3 is my hero." 

"Well, I fear you'll need to become his hero now. I would like you to work with me and save Agent 3, and all of our futures."

Orange just stood where he was, mouth slightly ajar in shock, surprised at being given the opportunity to have so much responsibility. His mom still washed all the dishes, afraid Orange would drop one, and now Cap'n Cuttlefish would entrust him with the future of all the inklings! Orange's brain seemed to freeze, unable to process what was going on. He tried speaking, but he words were jumbled and only came out in stutters. "M-m-me, sir? You-you really want to entrust ALL of Inktopolis to me?"

"Why, of course, boy! Agent 3 was no older than you when he stopped the Octarians. And sink me if I'm wrong, but I think you might have what it takes! I watched some of your matches towards the end of the day, and you did fantastically with that charger."

"Even the one I did horribly?"

"Boy, you aren't going to win every one. I liked how focused you were on getting that one girl. I think you could devote that passion to finding Agent 3 and be the best agent ever!"

"That one girl… do you mean Pink? Man, she annoys me so much. There was this one time when-"

"Spare me the details. We don't have the time. Pink, though, is that what you said her name was?"

"Yeah. She always seems to end up competing against me. I can't stand it when she wins."

"Hmm…" Cap'n Cuttlefish had a contemplative look on his face. Then he muttered to himself, "Yes, I think we can use that."

"Excuse me?" Orange asked.

"Oh, nothing, boy. Only an old man's thoughts. Nothing that concerns you. Now, I want you to meet me bright and early tomorrow morning over by that metal grate. It leads to Octo Valley. There're some kettles there that can take you to different locations the Octarians were at last time. I don't know if they'll reuse their old bases, but even if they don't, you might be able to find some clues about their plans."

"Kettles?" Orange had never heard of these "kettles" before, and definitely hadn't used one.

"They're a kind of transportation. You go in them, and they take you to a set destination."

"Ah." Orange was still confused and slightly concerned, but he didn't want to seem like he wasn't paying attention to Cap'n Cuttlefish.

"Ok, boy. See you here tomorrow morning. 6:00 sharp."

Orange gave a small nod and an appreciative smile in response to Cap'n Cuttlefish's parting words. Suddenly, he was very grateful for the extra sleep he got between sleeping in and resting after the end of the turf wars matches. He didn't suppose he would get much sleep that night.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi! Thanks for reading my story! I never expected to get as many views and visitors as I have. I definitely appreciate that. Also, to you who have clicked "favorite" or followed this story, thank you sooo much. You guys are a big motivator to me to keep writing as quickly as I can. I know I've been publishing new chapters pretty quickly (at least for me, I can't speak to anyone else's pace) but I have a few events coming up, and I don't know how much I'll be able to write these next few days/weeks, so I'll try to get some chapters completes, but no promises to continue at the same pace for the next little bit. Thanks again!**

This time, when Orange's alarm went off at 5:15, he woke up and started getting ready immediately. He had managed to find a few hours of sleep, but they were full of dreams of giant Octarian monsters lunging at him and Cap'n Cuttlefish. The Octarians in his dreams were distorted, as he had never seen one. Not a single tentacle of one had been seen during his lifetime. Sitting at the end of his bed, a long, black bag with a shoulder strap held Orange's Splatterscope, as well as a few other small items he had thrown in that either could be helpful or sentimental. He didn't know whether he would be gone for months or years straight, or would be able to hop back and forth from Octo Valley and Inktopolis, so there was a rapidly written note to his parents explaining what he was doing.

Sneaking out of his room as quietly as possible to avoid waking his parents, Orange set the note on the ground outside of their door, grabbed an apple from a glass bowl sitting on the kitchen counter, and slipped out the door, locking it behind him. Adrenaline pumping through his body made Orange want to rush down the stairs, but he took his time, carefully stepping on each stair to avoid unnecessary noise. When he finally reached the ground level, he raced down the short street between his apartment complex and the main plaza of Inktopolis, and over to the grate. He didn't see Cap'n Cuttlefish anywhere, despite the small ink-splatter print watch on his left wrist displaying 5:58 am. Finally, right as a little beep-beep-beep was emitted by the watch, Orange saw Cap'n Cuttlefish appear around the corner, leading, for some reason, to the main housing area. _Why would he be coming from that direction?_ Orange wondered.

Then the reason became obvious; following behind Cap'n Cuttlefish, with a smirk on her face, was Pink. Orange felt his face become flushed with anger, and prepared to yell at Cap'n Cuttlefish as soon as he got closer. Taking a few calming breaths, Orange composed himself. He didn't want to make a bad impression before even starting to combat the Octarians. "Why did you bring her along?" Orange whispered furiously, just quietly enough to only let Cap'n Cuttlefish, not Pink, hear.

"I just thought it might be a good idea. Now, come along, it's time to get you guys geared up." Cap'n Cuttlefish lifted up the grate and slid down a short slide, followed by a fuming Orange and a still smirking Pink, obviously thinking she was going to beat Orange again. The slide ended in a long, low corridor, barely lit by bioluminescent patches of moss growing between the wall bricks. It seemed to go on about 100 yards, before ending in a ladder leading out of sight, presumably into Octo Valley. Water dripped from the ceiling into small puddles on the roughly bricked floor, reflecting the light from the moss. The group walked towards the ladder, splashes echoing off the walls. Orange made an effort to kick extra water backwards towards Pink.

After descending the ladder, Orange had to blink a few time to adjust to the bright sun. He had never known that just outside of Inktopolis, there was such a large valley. Cap'n Cuttlefish must have noticed Orange's confused face, because he explained, "That tunnel uses similar technology to the kettles. Though it only seemed like you walked a little bit, you've really traveled over 50 miles. I don't know who made it. I only found it because I was working on the construction crew to renovate the plaza. We were drilling to build a sewer when we ran into that."

By now, Cap'n Cuttlefish had led the two teens across a small, open area to a cluttered hut. Orange glanced around, and saw that it seemed like they were floating in a secluded area inside a ring of mountains. Several structures of concrete and metal floated around the island they were on, seemingly suspended by magic. "Wait just a minute, and I'll get you your stuff," Cap'n Cuttlefish said as he started walking towards the hut. Several clanking and dragging sounds emanated, and he reappeared, pulling a large trunk. "Now, Orange, you seem taller than Pink. I don't know who this'll fit." He held up a strange looking outfit, glowing a bright blue in places. There was a pointed headpiece, large shoes that looked like they were designed for running, and a gun and tank combo Orange had never seen before. They looked… strong. Orange didn't know why, but he felt somewhat in awe of the weirdly shaped uniform.

"Let's see," contemplated Cap'n Cuttlefish, "I think I'll give this to you, Pink. You don't have a gun with you, so you can use that one." The glowing suit was placed into Pink's hands, and she started putting it on. "Oh, and for you Orange, I have this." With a flourish, Cap'n Cuttlefish procured another suit, very similar, but with bright yellow lights instead of blue ones. Orange pulled it on excitedly. He felt like, in this suit, there was no way any Octarians would get in his way. He was unstoppable.He ran around a bit, feeling his hair tentacles flying behind him. Nearby, Pink was testing out her gun, firing it at the ground by her feet. Cap'n Cuttlefish leaned against the wall of the hut, which Orange assumed was his house, observing Orange and Pink with a small smile.

"Ok, let's get serious," Cap'n Cuttlefish chided.

"Sorry," both Pink and Orange responded. Orange glared at Pink.

"Follow me," Cap'n Cuttlefish called as he led Pink and Orange to a strangely shaped metal structure. It was like the very top of a dome, with a tube leading out of it and metal grating covering a medium sized hole in the top. "This is a kettle," Cap'n Cuttlefish explained. "As you know, when you are in squid form, you can slip through grating like this. The way you use a kettle is that you slip through the grate, then are teleporting, through a network of tunnels like the one you took earlier, to your destination. On these kettles, the tunnels are extremely compressed, such that you seem to get to your destination immediately."

Orange eyed the kettle nervously. _What if it breaks? Will I be stuck in the tunnels forever?_ However, on the outside, he just nodded, not wanting to seem nervous. Pink, too, was nodding at Cap'n Cuttlefish. She, however, seemed far more certain than Orange. _I'm not going to let her have a better impression than me._ "So when can we go in it?" Orange asked.

"Well, this kettle leads to an old, abandoned city," Cap'n Cuttlefish started. "There might be a few things that could tell us where the Octarians have gone, or even some Octarians themselves. Your head gear contains a mic and speakers so I can contact you while you're in the field, as well as a camera so I can see what you're seeing."

"Are you going to train us?" Pink asked, somewhat shakily. Orange was pleased to know that she was scared too.

"I'll let you know what to do as you go," Cap'n Cuttlefish reassured them. "Now get going!"

Pink and Orange slowly walked towards the kettle, and, standing on it together, changed into squid form and dove into the tunnels, and their first challenge.


	5. Chapter 5

Orange felt a sensation he could only relate to being a piece of taffy, stretched and pulled. Then, in only a couple seconds, it was gone, and blurs of speed gave way to an abandoned city, buildings poking through the cloud line to the level where Pink and Orange had been deposited by the kettle. They were on a small platform, floating completely independently from any others. _I wonder how we'll get to the main area. There won't be any major clues on such a small area as this,_ Orange figured.

Cap'n Cuttlefish's voice came from the headset built into the head gear Orange was wearing. "Ya see that swirling pool of ink in front of you?" Orange looked forward, down a slight ramp, to another platform. Pink did too. "That there's a Launchpad. You can use it to fly to another area. What ya need to do is just like the kettles: get on it and go into squid form. It'll launch you onwards!"

Orange used his charger to shoot a path of lime green ink to the Launchpad, determined to find anything there might be before Pink. He swam through the trail and jumped in the Launchpad, any fear pushed aside by his competitive spirit. The Launchpad sucked in a little bit, then shot Orange skyward, depositing him on in a new area. This one was multi-leveled, with a rough metal ramp leading down to a large area with several puddles of purple ink and some wooden crates sitting around. Leading to another area was a steep, curved ramp, nearly vertical. _I don't think I could walk up that. I'll need to swim,_ Orange decided.

"Orange, boy, can you hear me? I can talk to just one of you at a time," Cap'n Cuttlefish's voice echoed in Orange's ears.

"Yep," Orange replied.

"Good. Now, when Agent 3 was fighting the Octarians, purple ink was the signature of 'em. That's what they shot. Could you walk over to some?" Orange approached the nearest puddle. Nearby, Pink was knocking on some of the boxes. Orange started hustling, not wanting her to go through all of the crates before he could and find something. "Ah, ok. Looks pretty dried out. Not too fresh." Cap'n Cuttlefish returned to Orange's headset. "They haven't been here too lately. Ya know much about Octarians, boy?"

Orange shook his head, not remembering Cap'n Cuttlefish couldn't see him, the quickly responded, "No, nothing. Haven't even seen one."

"I would hope not. They can be right nasty, if ya aren't prepared. Now, Octarians have little tiny legs, then a big body. It looks like one big tentacle, pale on one side with a face, and red-ish purple on the other. The regular ones ride on little machines with a big tube leading to a dish on the front. They shoot out of that. But on the back, there's a little spout. They shoot ink out of that spout when they don't see a threat. If they were here recently, they would've been spraying ink all over the place, so this ink would still be wet, but it's kinda dried out now."

"Ah," was the only thing Orange could say. From Cap'n Cuttlefish's definition, the Octarians certainly sounded frightening, and Orange didn't want to run into any soon. Remembering his job, Orange started checking boxes, peering around the outsides. Some were poorly made out of pale wood. He could clearly see they were empty from peering through some of the cracks. Others, however, were sturdier, made of an orange wood and bore a squid-like shape painted on the side with white paint. Orange tried to look into them but couldn't see anything. Backing up, he prepared to shoot it. He launched a stream of bright paint at the box, and it broke open, sending several bright orange spheres at Orange!

"AHH! Get them off me!" Orange yelled, jumping around.

He heard his headset crackle. "Ha ha ha! Boy, there's no need to be afraid of those. They're helpful! Bring enough to me, and I can upgrade your stuff!"

"Oh," Orange responded, his face reddening in embarrassment. "Ok. So I should try to collect as many of these as I can?"

"Absolutely! Then you can be ready for confronting some actual Octarians!"

Orange returned to inspecting the boxes, shooting any of the orange ones when he came to them. They all seemed to contain some of the orbs. One box even contained a whole bunch! Eventually, between the two of them, Pink and Orange had examined the whole area without finding anything. Up the up the steep ramp was another large, open space, but this one without ink or wooden boxes. Another Launchpad was at the end of the space. "Launchpad ahoy! Let's move on!" Cap'n Cuttlefish yelled. This flight took Pink and Orange to another large platform, this one separated with stone walls. Orange walked to the right, while Pink took the left. A few orbs sat on the ground, which Orange walked over to collect, but nothing else of interest was there. Pink's face upon them meeting in the center of the platform revealed she encountered the same situation.

One more Launchpad ride took the two inklings to a new type of platform. The landing zone led down a path with two short walls, one on each side with a path down the middle. Then, about 15 feet above that, another concrete platform hung off of the side of a billboard. It looked like there was some object sitting on it!

"How can we get up there?" Orange heard Pink say into her mic. "I don't see a ladder or anything."

Cap'n Cuttlefish responded to both of them. "You're right, there isn't a ladder or anything, nor are there boxes. It's too high for ya to jump, and that Launchpad leads to another area."

Orange looked down in front of him, where there was a Launchpad, then up at the billboard and platform in front of them. _If I jump just right…_ Orange quickly made a plan in his head. Using his Splatterscore's full power, he aimed right at the surface of the billboard where he could faintly, using his scope, see some metal scaffolding on the other side. Releasing the ink from the charger, Orange shot a hole through the billboard, then jumped through that, landing on a small metal platform built on the back of the structure. Another blast of ink made a path up the back of the billboard to the height of the platform, and one more created an access to the front.

Orange swam up the trail of ink he created and ducked through the hole, onto the concrete platform. The object they had seen earlier seemed to be some type of shield. It was a dark, curved metal, with a glass window in the center. Orange tried picking it up, but it was far too heavy for him to even move. "What do you thing, Cap'n Cuttlefish?" he asked.

"Well, I think I've seen this before," Cap'n Cuttlefish responded. "It looks like the shield on a shielded Octarian. Some of them had shields on the front that resisted ink, and this looks like one of those."

"So is it anything we can use?"

"I fear not. It just looks like any other. How 'bout you jump down from there and keep looking."

Disappointed at not having found a big clue, Orange leaped down from the platform, dejected. Another Launchpad trip led Pink and Orange to an empty platform, from which they blasted off to yet another area. This one featured three tall, concrete towers. "Here, I'll climb these ones. You got the last one," Pink said to Orange.

"No, I've got this," replied Orange.

"Please. I want a chance to check somewhere out."

"Just let her," Cap'n Cuttlefish said to Orange, a hint of anger in his voice.

"Fine," Orange snapped at Pink. She smiled sweetly at him, only throwing him into a worse mood, then started making her way up.

"Look, Orange," Cap'n Cuttlefish radioed through Orange's headset. "She's part of the team. You're going to have to work with her. You'll never get anything done if you just constantly fight with her."

"I'm not going to work with her," Orange said sullenly. "She always gets in the way of my being the best. Just yesterday, I was going to get a 16 game win streak, but she just had to burst in and ruin it all. I was really hoping that this would be a great opportunity for me to achieve something huge and be the freshest squid in the neighborhood, but now I'm just going to get shown up by her, AGAIN. I can't stand it!" Orange's voice grew louder and more intense as he went on, until he nearly was yelling the last couple of words. Pink's voice broke through his brooding.

"I think I found something!" she yelled happily from the top of the tallest tower. "It's some sort of paper!"

"Cap'n Cuttlefish talked to both of them now. "Wow, very good!" At these words, Orange crossed his arms, furrowed his brow, and turned away from Pink. "This appears to be some sort of scroll," Cap'n Cuttlefish continued. "Agent 3 uncovered a couple of these. They're called sunken scrolls: long lost records of history that end up in strange places. This one seems to be a record of the old Great Turf Wars between the Inklings and Octarians. Bravo!"

"So what can we do with it?" Pink asked.

"Well," responded Cap'n Cuttlefish, "though it is a nice part of history, it can't help us right now. Just hold on to it."

Orange felt mildly reassured at these words. _At least she didn't find anything about what's going on right now. It's just some useless old scrap of paper._ He turned back around with this thought, and approached the Launchpad just beyond the towers. The Launchpad led to a somewhat strange area. It seemed to be the roof of one of the buildings, lending a bumpy, multi-leveled shape. A few orange crates were quickly dispatched by Pink and Orange, each receiving a couple of the glowing orbs, but other than that, the landscape was largely bare. The Launchpad sat right next to the landing zone, making the rest of the large section useless. Orange considered the new place, contemplating its layout. _I wonder why the Octarians would design their base like that. All the previous places we've been, you've had to go across the whole zone to get to the Launchpad, but here it's right next to where we got to this zone._

Seemingly having read Orange's mind, Cap'n Cuttlefish remarked, "This Launchpad used to be in a vault that required a key to open. When Agent 3 came through here, he opened it up, and the Octarians must have just not closed it. That certainly makes it easier for you."

"I'm going to look through this place anyways. There could be a clue here," Orange spoke into his mic.

"Yeah, me too!" Pink followed Orange up a ramp to a strange area with a small, steep hill in the middle. Two short walls stood between the ramp and the flat ground with the hill. Orange passed between them, while Pink went next to the left one and started examining the back of it. He, however, immediately made his way to the hill, walking up, down, and around it. Despite his best tries, though, the bumpy metal revealed no secrets. Both he and Pink made their way back to the Launchpad, starting to doubt that they'd find anything here. This flight took them to seemingly the final area. It was made of a wide, flat platform without any boxes but a few small ramps on it and a smaller platform held up by a glass tower. Off to the left side of the entrance from the landing zone was one last Launchpad.

"I'd be willing to bet that if there's anything here, it's up there," Orange muttered.

"Probably. Launchpad up there is off to the port side, so how about you take that?" Cap'n Cuttlefish responded.

Orange and Pink both turned to the Launchpad, eager to see what was on the final, small platform. Orange flew up there first, quickly followed by Pink. Much of the surface was taken up by a broken down contraption. A metal base with a short ramp and several tubes coming out of it led up to strangely shaped hunk of metal. A dome had a space carved out inside with a spiral dug out, like the socket for a giant lightbulb. Coming out of that was a jumble of stripped, sparking and hissing wires. Orange decided to ask Cap'n Cuttlefish, "What is this?"

Cap'n Cuttlefish responded after a slight pause. His voice sounded a bit sad. "The last time we fought the Octarians, it was because they stole all of the zapfish from Inktopolis, which provide the whole town with electrical power. This was an energy harvesting machine. The zapfish would be placed in here, and it powered this city. Now it's abandoned and falling apart without any power since the zapfish is gone. Agent 3 and I had to decide if we wanted to put this city at risk, or let the Octarians take over. It would seem like we made the right decision, but to the former residents of this town, we will be forever hated."

"I thought you had said this was an Octarian base?" Pink queried.

"It was, but before that, it was an inkling city. They asked for our help regaining their homes and businesses, and we did that, but gave them back a useless city."

Everyone was quiet for a second, reflecting on how bad of a situation it was. Then something caught Orange's eye. Fluttering around inside the machine, was a paper. It wasn't an ancient one like the paper Pink had found, but instead looked rather new. Careful to avoid the wires and electrocution, Orange reached inside and grabbed the paper. It was covered in squiggly writing that Orange couldn't read. "Orange, what do ya have there?" Cap'n Cuttlefish asked.

"I don't know," Orange replied. He held it up to where he figured the camera must have been in the head piece. "Can you read that?"

"Sink me, ya did it! That writing is Octarian writing! You found our first clue!"

 **Hi! I wrote this chapter longer that the previous ones, and I want to know if you like the longer format, like this chapter, or the shorter chapters, like the previous ones. The last few ones have been between 1,000-1,500 words, while this one is right around 2,500. Please message me or leave a review so I can write the best story for you guys! Thanks!**


	6. Chapter 6

Orange stared at the paper he held. _This little scrap of paper? This'll help us find Agent 3?_ he wondered incredulously. The squiggles on the paper appeared strange to Orange. He had never seen anything like them, and certainly couldn't make heads or tails of them. "Cap'n Cuttlefish, how are we going to decode this?" Orange asked.

"Well, there's the problem. Agent 3 knew how to, but I don't. You're going to have to find someone who can translate," came the reply.

"Do you think there could be someone in Inktopolis?"

"Perhaps, but if they have a brain, they'll be hiding. Most people would taking as mighty suspect right now if someone has associated with Octarians." At this, Orange's heart fell. Inktopolis was such a large city, one specific person making an effort to not be found would be practically impossible to locate. He tried to make a list of all the places to look, but it immediately became too long to remember. Next to him, Pink's lips were moving like she was doing the same thing, but she too had to give up trying rather quickly. "Well, let's get ya back here. We'll start trying to translate that note."

IIIII

After the short trip through the converted sewer and out into the plaza, Orange and Pink we're surprised to find it was already night time. _We couldn't have been looking around for the entire day!_ Orange thought.

Cap'n Cuttlefish provided an answer to Orange's unspoken question. "Oh yeah, forgot to tell ya. Time goes faster in that pipe, too. It takes the same amount of time to travel the full distance to walk the shortened distance, ya just don't feel it."

"So," Pink said, "what kind of person are we looking for? They won't be an Octarian, for sure, but who else might know the language?"

"Well, ya got to get someone well-travelled," Cap'n Cuttlefish started, " then they've got to be…" His voice trailed off in Orange's mind as he stopped paying attention, instead thinking of good places to look.

"Ok, wonderful! I know just the place!" Pink exclaimed happily.

 _Oh great, now she has an advantage. I'll need to get lucky, now,_ Orange lamented.

"Hey Orange, do you think we should stay together and combine ideas, or split up and cover more ground?"

"Umm… How about we split up…?" _If we stay together, she'll ask me for ideas, and I don't have any. If Cap'n Cuttlefish listens to us, I don't want him to hear me floundering._

"Ok! Where are you going to go first?"

"Well, I was thinking maybe I could just look around here first, see if I can find anyone around the apartments."

"I'll make sure to stay away from them! Good luck!"

"Yeah, you too," Orange ended the conversation, not really meaning what he said. Confused and unprepared, he wanted to sit down on the stairs to the Inkopolis news broadcast room, but he knew he couldn't do that in front of Cap'n Cuttlefish's gaze. _I need to put together a plan! I can't just let Cap'n Cuttlefish down!_ Orange, aware of the need for urgency to save his reputation, speed walked around a corner, just out of sight. _What will I do, what will I do?_

Then, suddenly, Orange heard a strange scuttling noise, followed by a creak and a slurp. He jumped back, mildly frightened by the suddenness and proximity. It sounded like it was right next to him! A quick glance around a garbage can revealed a strange looking creature, unlike any other Orange had seen before. Its face was hidden in shadow cast by long, dark, and spiky hair, and it was crouched over a large shell with a hole in the top. "Oh man, these are good. Love these Splatfest things. So much food."

Orange had a new thought. _Say, this guy looks like he isn't from here. Perhaps he knows about the Octarians!_ Stepping out from his cover, Orange announced himself. "Excuse me sir, do you think you could help me?"

The creature spun around quickly, holding out a shiny object like a knife. "Wot? Who? Where are ya? Whadda ya want?" He made a few quick jabs forward into the darkness, just missing Orange.

Orange stepped forward to allow light to fully reveal himself. "Don't worry, I mean no harm. I just need help."

"Oh, you're one of those Inklings. I tell ya, I ain't got nuthin' on me! Ain't done nuthin' wrong! Never!"

"I didn't think you did, nor do I intend to do anything if you did. I simply need help. You look like you aren't from here. Are you well-travelled?"

"Well, I mean, I guess I've been around," the creature responded, seemingly interested. "By the way, the names Spyke. I don't like to get too settled anywhere, for… certain reasons. I figure I could help ya, for a price."

"Say, could you decifer some Octarian for me?"

"Octarian? My, don't hear that request much. I suppose I could." He then seemed to try to mutter to himself, but Orange could make out what he was saying. "Very rare talent, oh yes! Can charge this ignorant boy mountains for it!" He then turned around, and raised his voice. "I believe I can. I'm quite the academic, you see. Know all those old languages. But I'm afraid it'll cost you. Very rare talent, I guarantee you won't find anyone else that could do this job. At least, not that won't attack you on sight." He paused to chuckle quietly at his own joke, but stopped when he saw Orange's serious face, thrown into a strange twilight on only one side by a flickering light. "SO, let's get to business. I say it'll be a bargain at a measly 100,000 cash. Won't find any other offers, I guarantee."

 _100,000?! He must be out of his mind! There's no way I'll pay him that._ Orange calmed himself before speaking. "Say, 100,000 seems a wee bit high. It's a small letter, only a few words. It can't take over a minute or two. I'd pay 10,000, not anywhere close to 100,000."

"10,000?!" Spyke clapped his hand to his mouth and gasped, then settled into a sort of offended sadness. "Why do you insult me so? Only 10,000, for my great service? Do you doubt my abilities? Or do you not have enough?" A sort of wicked glint crept into his eye at the last point. "Are you lacking in cash? I assume you, we can find other forms of payment that won't hurt too much."

"No, I assure you, I mean no offence, nor am I lacking in the ability to meet your demands." Orange desperately hoped Spyke would believe his bluff. He thought of the approximately 25,000 cash in his pocket, and grimaced at the thought of what would happen if he couldn't pay. "I simply… um, well… I think that there could be someone else here you don't know about. One that could help me. My partner already thinks she knows someone."

"Wot?!" Spyke appeared enraged. "Another? But I swear I'm the only one here!" His voice fell into a wordless, inaudible muttering, growing to a screeching roar of anger and disbelief. "Just tell me who it is, and I'll only charge you 50,000. I'll even take your 10,000!"

 _Wow, he hates competition. Must really like money. I'm sure I can take advantage of that._ Orange considered how to best maneuver around Spyke, convincing him to provide his services while still believing Orange knew of the other person. "Well, how 'bout you come with me, and I'll show you the letter so you can decipher it, then I'll get my partner to tell you who their guy is."

"Do I need to come with ya? Can't ya just bring the thing here?"

"Do you want to know your competition?"

"Fine, I'll follow ya."

Orange led Spyke out of the alleyway where he had been crouched into the well-lit plaza. At first, Spyke reeled back from the light and tried to stay in the shadow, but eventually followed right behind Orange. A quick message whispered through an earpiece to Cap'n Cuttlefish resulted in both his and Pink's return within a couple minutes. Orange was happy to notice that Pink was alone and seemingly frustrated. "Cap'n Cuttlefish, this guy named Spyke reckons he can solve our problem. Care to see?"

The paper was passed into Spyke's long-fingered hangs, and he frowned at it. He tapped his cheek with his right pointer finger, and nodded his head gently a few times. "Ok, ok," he murmured in a low voice. A few minutes passed as Orange, pink, and Cap'n Cuttlefish stared at Spyke and Spyke stared at the paper. "Ok, I think I've got it," Spyke finally announced triumphantly. As he pointed to different parts of the writing, he clarified what it meant. "See, right here it says 'valley', but before that, here," he pointed to a group of scribbles near the top, "It says abandon. Then down over here it says 'transport to new base.' And, though I don't understand it, here it says 'cryo chamber ruin' and 'remake'. It looks like instructions on how to get to a new base designed around some sort of cryo chamber. I'm sure you'll understand it better than me. Now, about that name…"

Pink looked confusedly at Orange. "What name?"

"Oh, yeah," Orange responded, "I told him you'd tell him who it was you knew that could understand Octarian as payment for his services."

"What person I knew? I never said I knew anyone who could understand Octarian!"

"You said you had an idea of where to look!"

"That was just an idea! Obviously I didn't find anything!"

As soon as Pink's words sunk into Orange's mind, he became scared. _Uh oh. I told Spyke I'd pay him like this, and now I don't have anything. What'll I do?_ He then spoke, trying to salvage the situation. "Hey Spyke, you know how I said I'd pay you by telling you about that guy? Yeah, well looks like that won't work out. How about the knowledge that you've helped us?"

"Whadda ya mean ya can't pay me like that? ARE YOU TRYIN' TA STEAL MY HARD WORK?!" Spyke yelled. His face became red with anger, and he rushed at Orange, arms outstretched.

"Run!" Orange yelled to Cap'n Cuttlefish and Pink. Quickly, Cap'n Cuttlefish disappeared into the tunnel to Octo Valley, but Spyke didn't seem to care. He only wanted Orange. Orange moved towards the grate, but was cut off by Spyke. Now walking slowly and menacingly, Spyke pushed Orange back, breathing incredibly hard through flared nostrils.

"I won't let you stiff me, boy, even if it means I have to take some desperate measures."

"Uhm…" Orange gulped, wishing he could disappear into a puddle of ink and swim away. He could feel a sense of hopelessness settling in. A cold breath of wind stirred the back of Orange's shirt, right before it hit a freezing metal wall with a small thump. _Oh no oh no, what do I do now? There's no way I can get past Spyke to the grate, but Cap'n Cuttlefish already went down it and I don't know where Pink is._ Orange kept his back sliding down the wall, producing small squeaks in the darkness that now surrounded them. _Uh oh, I'm working myself into a corner._ _But there's nothing else I can do!_ Now Orange felt his body slide into a corner made by the wall and a fence separating the plaza from the residential streets. Spyke's grasping fingers worked their ways to inches away from Orange's shoulders.

"Oh yes boy, you'll pay for your treachery. No one pulls one over on me."

"Quick, Orange, duck!" Pink's voice rang out from behind Orange, over the fence on a balcony. Orange threw his body down onto the hard ground as a glob of ink sailed over his head and hit Spyke high in the face.

"Argh!" Spyke screeched. "I can't see! Get it off!"

"Quick Orange, run to the grate!" Pink's voice rang out. Orange ducked under and dodged around Spyke's flailing arms and settled into a dead sprint across the plaza, feet drumming.

"Ah ha, there you are! I won't let you escape!" Spyke had cleared the ink off of his eyes and now ran after Orange. His significantly longer legs granted him speed, and allowed him to close the gap between him and Orange. Orange was five yards from the grate, three yards, one yard…

"Ugh!" Orange grunted as Spyke's hands closed around his ankles. Spkye landed hard on the ground following his all-out leap, and pulled down Orange with him. _So—ugh—close!_ _Just one foot and I can transform and reach it!_ Pink had already made her way down the tunnel, leaving Orange with no help near. He kicked furiously, trying to shake free. A loud grunt and a loosening of the hands around his ankle told him he had found his mark. One more yank freed him. _Yes! I'm out of here!_ Orange scrambled forward a tiny bit, morphed into a squid, and fell down, away from Spyke and into freedom.


	7. Chapter 7

Everyone was breathing hard. Even Cap'n Cuttlefish, who hadn't been present for Spyke's vicious assault, had heard and seen what was happening through Orange's headset. Nervous chuckling came out of Orange's mouth, echoing down the tunnel and layering over the other echoes to make a dissonant, frightening screech. Orange ran and leapt down the passageway in a state of adrenaline-fueled euphoria. _Yes! We have what we need, and got away safely!_ However, upon exiting from the tunnel to where Cap'n Cuttlefish was waiting, his excitement was immediately suppressed.

"Do ya realize what ya just did, boy?" Cap'n Cuttlefish addressed Orange in a quiet and dangerous voice, like he was teetering on the brink of exploding. "Do ya realize what position yer stunt just put us in? We aren't goin' ta be able to go back there as long as that Spyke character's hangin' out there! He'll maul us soon as we step a foot up there!" Cap'n Cuttlefish's words dropped like rocks, each individually hitting Orange until he was crushed under the weight of realization.

 _Oh no, what have I done? We'll have to stay here forever!_ Orange made a mental cry of anguish. He hung his head in shame. "I'm so sorry. I had no idea this would happen. Do you think we'll ever be able to go back?"

"I don't know, boy. But we have other stuff to do now. We've got our clue, now to follow it up."

"Do you know what it means? I've never heard of a cryo thingy," Pink queried.

"Me neither," Orange chimed in.

"I think I could have something that'll help ya," Cap'n Cuttlefish said as he produced a stack of old papers from a worn chest next to him. "Agent 3 gathered some of these from places throughout old Octarian bases, and I mixed in some other papers. I think I remember some mention of a cryo chamber. You guys sort through these to find clues."

Resigned to a boring and tedious task, Orange sighed and settled down on the ground by the pile of papers.

IIIII

Papers lay scattered on the ground around two frustrated and annoyed inklings. Orange had tried giving up and secretly escaping several times when he thought Cap'n Cuttlefish had gone into his hut where he had kept the chest, but was always thwarted by a reproachful glare from around a corner of the hut or through a window. Orange sighed and stretched his legs, which had been painfully folded underneath him for what had felt like hours.

"Oh, stop whining," Pink voiced, seemingly reading Orange's mind. "You've only been here for 30 minutes, and working for less than half of that."

"Hey, I have too been working! Look at all the work I've done!" Orange argued, gesturing at a papers on the ground.

"What of that did YOU do? Not that one," Pink pointed at a paper with a black and white photo attached to it, "or that one, or any of those. Take those ones out, and you have how many?"

Orange realized with humiliation that he could count the sheets Pink hadn't pointed out on one hand. "Well…" Orange trailed off, unable to come up with a proper retort in the face of facts. "You haven't found what we're looking for either! Therefore, we're even on amounts of work!"

Pink shook her head at Orange's highly flawed logic. "And for your information, I have found plenty. There's a page pulled out of an engineering book or something. 'Sciences surrounding cryo chambers, or extremely cold devices capable of putting a being into a deep sleep allowing it to hibernate for many years, were quite slow until a human development right before their extinction. This advancement allowed a mysterious reaction to take place and create massive amounts of energy in a small area.' The article goes onto the next page which I can't find there, but I think that's enough. The Octarians must be trying to get unlimited power!"

"Hmm…" Orange pondered Pink's revelation. "I found something that could go with that. They're blueprints for massive vehicles covered in weaponry. Some notes taped to the page mention the massive energy needs. Maybe they're trying to make those!"

"Let's go tell Cap'n Cuttlefish. He'll want to know."

"Yeah, probably." Orange picked up the yellowed papers from their spot on the grass that had been pressed down by the weight of stacks of notes and pages and set them on top of the sheets he had found, carefully clutching them to protect the precious information from any sudden gusts of wind (despite there not being any in Octo Valley for as long as Orange had been there). He peeked around the corner of Cap'n Cuttlefish's hut, and knocked quickly on the metal siding when he didn't see any sign of Cap'n Cuttlefish outside. Orange heard some whispering coming out of the hut, followed by a chuckle and Cap'n Cuttlefish's voice.

"Just one moment, I'll be out there with ya." A clattering followed, and Orange jumped back as several cans and a strangely shaped metal pipe fell in front of him, nearly landing on his toes. "Oh, sorry, sorry." Cap'n Cuttlefish appeared, holding his hat and rubbing his head as if some of the items had bounced off his head on their way to Orange's feet. "You found somethin'?"

Orange held out the pages in front of them, and they were eagerly taken from his hand. "These seem to be connected. Pink found a page talking about how a cryo chamber could make endless energy, but I really completed the story. Those seem to be blueprints for massive Octarian weaponized vehicles! Now, with boundless energy…" Orange continued, emphasizing his accomplishments.

"Woah woah woah, slow down. What was that about the energy?"

Orange sighed, resigned to having to bring up Pink's accomplishments. "The humans made some advancement allowing for a reaction that made lots of money. But back to the machines, if the Octarians had enough energy to power them…"

Cap'n Cuttlefish stopped Orange again. "Wait, yer tellin' me that the Octarians could have endless power? Uh oh…"

"Why's that so important? Without the vehicles, the energy is useless."

"Except maybe, it isn't. The last time the Octarians attacked, they were trying to get energy there. They took the Great Zapfish from Inkopolis and held it captive. I thought they were just trying to electrically starve us out, but then… they kidnapped me."

Orange gasped at this news. He hadn't known that had happened to the friendly Cap'n Cuttlefish, and listened with rapt attention as the story continued.

"I saw all kinds of things. More Octarians I would every have imagined could exist. But besides just manpower, I saw massive machines. Ones like the vehicles shown in these blueprints."

"Wait, so you mean that the Octarians may already have the vehicles, they only need the energy? And now they might have it as well?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I was thinking about it earlier, but this solidifies my fears." Cap'n Cuttlefish paused for a moment and looked like he was deeply pondering something. "I'm going to need to call in some of my previous agents."

"Other agents?"

"Yeah. They had worked with Agent 3. They've been begging to come help and look for their friend, but I tried to protect them. It's only a matter of time until the Octarians figure out how to use that energy, and we can't let them do that."

Orange tried to absorb the information. He knew that he should feel relieved that he and Pink would be getting some help, but instead he felt a slight prick of anger within him. _What is he suggesting? That we aren't good enough to figure this out ourselves? I'll show him, I'll figure this out without any help from the other agents!_ However, all Orange said was, "Ok, I suppose some help could make this go quicker." He then walked away, still internally fuming.

IIIII

Orange was unable to sleep despite it being late at night. He and Pink were forced to sleep outside under a small roof that Cap'n Cuttlefish put un using some scrap metal he found lying around, all the while throwing angry glares at Orange and muttering things like, "if only you hadn't screwed it all up, you could be back home right now." Orange felt conflicted. On one hand he had made it incredibly dangerous to return to Inkopolis, but he also had gotten the information that led to discovering the Octarians' plan and was very happy for it. However, as he grew increasingly sore from the hard ground barely cushioned by the few blankets underneath him and Pink, his mind started leaning towards the unhappy side of his dilemma. Trying to get to sleep Orange rolled over for what seemed like the hundredth time that night and found himself staring up at the moon, his head poking out from the side of the thrown-together shelter.

For some strange reason, at that exact moment a memory came rushing in to Orange's mind. It was when he was about seven years old and had been in nearly the exact same situation, except in his comfortable room. At that time his family had been living in a house further away from the Inkopolis main square, in a suburb about a mile or so away. Orange was too young to participate in turf wars then and his parents had to work anyways so the location didn't bother him. What did bother him, though, were the large skyscrapers that obstructed him view of the moon every night at bed time. One night, when he wasn't able to sleep, he glanced out his window and saw that the moon was now hovering over the skyscrapers rather than blocked as he had always seen before. His young mind racing for an explanation, Orange concluded that the moon must be a giant vehicle driving across the sky. Returning to his current predicament, he realized that he might actually be fighting a giant tank or plane or something else similar to the moon-car he had imagined. The thought filled him with dread, only making his sleeplessness worse.

Careful not to wake Pink or Cap'n Cuttlefish, Orange climbed out of the little sandwich of blankets he was in and stood up. A quick stretch got blood flowing to all of his limbs again, and he started walking, not to any specific place, just to get some fresh air. He glanced up at the sky again, admiring the stars. They were so bright in Octo Valley, unlike Inkopolis where the constant Turf Wars required bright lights to be on all night preventing the stars from being seen. Coming to a ledge, Orange sat down and dangled his legs off of the side. The floor of the valley was barely visible far below them in the dim light. Heavy fog swirled around in places and seemed to make giant creatures galloping aimlessly across the ground. _I wonder if anything lives down there,_ Orange thought. A sudden rush of adrenaline filled him and he resolved to go explore the valley floor.

However, to do that Orange would need to get down there. The big mountains loomed all around him, offering passage down if only he could get to them. However, no paths existed between the floating platforms of the structures he was on and the mountains, forcing Orange to think of something different. He tossed a small rock sitting near him down into the fog trying to gauge the distance down, but never heard it land. He then recalled a stunt he had seen on television once, a while ago. Using a sheet of metal and a couple sticks an inkling had created a sort of hang glider, flying from the top of a tall building to the ground 50 stories below safely. A quick glance over to Cap'n Cuttlefish's hut revealed both of these requirements sitting there. _He'll never miss them, there's stuff like this sitting all over the place,_ Orange though, trying to justify him stealing the items. He quickly gathered his selected materials, attached the sticks for him to hold in with some bits of rope, and readied himself to start his flight by carrying the glider to the highest part of the platform, a small tower right on the edge.

As soon as he jumped off the platform Orange knew the TV show had lied. The handles were difficult to hang on to and the contraption, rather than floating easily like he had expected, buckled and shook as it fell at a steep angle. He would have yelled as he fell but fear caught the sound in his throat and he immediately regretted his decision. Desperately trying to gain control of the makeshift glide, Orange tried rotating the handles backwards to pull up the descent, but instead it just started acting like a really ineffective parachute, causing him to just fall straight down at nearly the same breakneck pace. The air made a mighty SWOOSH as it sped past Orange and the gigantic sheet of metal. He felt his arms nearly pull out of their sockets as he tried to retain his grip on the glider. Little drops of water stung his face as the layer of fog engulfed the terrified inkling, signaling the coming ground.

Twisting his body Orange climbed on top of the speeding metal, planning to try jumping up and propelling himself upwards to slow his speed right before crashing in to the surface. Breaking through the clouds Orange saw the floor of the valley, much closer than he expected it to be. He tensed his legs quickly and push down with all of the force he could. Unfortunately, due to physics he didn't move up at all, the glider just got pushed down. It crashed on a rock with a huge crashing sounds not unlike a giant gong being hit by the strongest person ever. Orange had a brief second to let out a little squeaking sound before he fell in to some bushes and blacked out.


End file.
